Editing SGI Visual Workstation (section)

==Operating system==
The 320 and 540 Visual Workstations shipped originally with [[Microsoft]] [[Windows NT 4.0]]. A custom [[Hardware Abstraction Layer]] (HAL) for Windows is necessary due to the ARCloader PROM. [[Windows 2000]] is the last release which included the required SGI-specific HAL. Because of that, and because SGI ceased supporting the Visual Workstation series, installation of later Windows versions such as XP is unsupported.

The 230, 330, and 550 also supported Windows NT and 2000. In addition, SGI offered these systems pre-loaded with release 6.2 of the [[Red Hat Linux]] distribution.<ref name=lmag2001_03>{{cite magazine
| url      = https://archive.org/details/eu_Linux_Magazine_2001-03-US/page/n17/mode/1up?q=sgi+visual+workstation
| magazine = [[Linux Magazine]]
| date     = March 2001
| page     = 16-17
| first    = Jason
| last     = Perlow
| issue    = 
| title    = SGI 330 Packs a Punch
}}</ref> These systems have the letter "L" appended to their model numbers.

Visual Workstations often out-perform Intel [[Personal computer|PC]]s of similar configuration in graphically-intensive or [[memory bound]] applications because of the various SGI enhancements, in particular for the 320 and 540. However, it was more cost effective to purchase an entire new higher-spec non-SGI PC rather than purchase upgrades to a Visual Workstation, due to the hefty upgrade costs for the non-standard components.